The Tampa Bay Rays are staying put—both in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and in Tropicana Field.

With 14 years remaining on the lease agreement between the Rays and Tropicana Field in St. Pete, the Rays are staying put in the dome until 2027.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is content with that, knowing that building a new stadium is a long process.

"It’s far, but it’s not that far because I can’t in 2026 snap my fingers and all of a sudden have a place to play," Sternberg told FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi. "The groundwork needs to be done, starting very soon. You’ve got to figure out the proper location, whether it’s 10 yards from where we’re playing or 30 miles. Then you have to figure out if it’s feasible. Then you have to go through the approvals and everything else. Even if you have a location, just to get that OK’d takes years. Then it takes years to actually build the thing. At some point in the next few years, we’ve got to have it figured out."

The Rays are on pace for a sixth consecutive wining season, but they have the lowest average attendance in the American League with 17,909 fans per game.

Sternberg quickly shot down a question about the prospects of his team leaving the area. As part of his response, he made reference to Montreal, which lost the Expos after the 2004 season to Washington, D.C. Sternberg predicted that a major league team would eventually relocate to Quebec, but it wouldn't be his.

"In the next five years, no. In the next 20, yes," Sternberg said. "I thought about it as a great baseball market. But this is probably three, four years ago. I was asked and pressed about it. I said I could think of seven (viable) places (for relocation). But I’m not looking. I just want to explore my back yard."